By Alberto Mingardi
I’m reading Tom Stoppard’s biography by Hermione Lee. I never thought I could read 900 pages on a subject previously unimportant to me with such delight. It is a marvelous book. Stoppard’s life is interesting and eventful, it provides a good glimpse into the world of culture and entertainment in the last quarter of the 20th century. Plus, Lee's analyses of Stoppard's plays are masterful. One thing that comes out of Lee’s biography of Stoppard is how independent-minded he was,...
George Orwell's 1984 contains excerpts from a fictional book, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. Orwell provides a short passage from Chapter 1, entitled "Ignorance is Strength" and a much longer passage from Chapter 3, entitled "War Is Peace." Although 1984 is a work of dystopian fiction,...
If you're interested in Stoppard influenced movies, I highly recommend Brazil. The collaboration between Stoppard and Gilliam (and Charles McKeown) remains one of my favorite movies of all time.
Komori , January 13, 9:12 pm.